My Basic No-Knead

This is my basic no-knead bread (an adaptation of Jim Lahey’s beloved no-knead bread) that is easy enough to put together and come out with a fantastic artisan-style boule in your own home.  It does, however, require a little bit of specialty equipment in the form of a heavy duty covered dutch oven.  Mine is a basic cast iron beauty, and it weighs more than my 3rd grader I swear, but it does the job nicely.   The other thing it takes is time.  This is not something you throw together at the last minute or day of.  This requires about a full day to ferment and develop the amazing flavor and chew.

Please note that there are lots and lots of words below.  No one in the history of the world has ever accused me of being economical with words.  I try, but I love the words.  I do try to keep it to the minimum with side notes below.  Sometimes I give you options depending on the equipment you are using–a sort of choose your own adventure (80s shoutout!) for bread.  I always recommend giving the recipe a full read through first.  It seems daunting, but lots of it is just resting.

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Basic No-Knead Bread

Ingredients

  • 3 1/3 cups bread flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tablespoon salt I use Morton kosher salt
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon yeast heaping
  • 2 cups water warm is best, but not above 110 degrees F
  • Cornmeal, flour, or rice flour for dusting

Instructions

  1. First, take 1/4 cup of the water and add the yeast and stir until it is dissolved. Let stand about 5-10 minutes till the yeast is proofed. Add the remaining 1 3/4 cups warm water and the honey.
  2. Next, mix the flours and salt together in a large bowl. You want a lot of room, as the dough will rise quite a bit. Once it is thoroughly mixed, pour in the yeast/water/honey mixture and stir into a shaggy mess. Cover with plastic wrap, or a non-airtight lid and let sit for 18-24 hours.* (see note below).
  3. At this point, your dough looks very very wet and is full of good yeast created bubbles. You want to flour GENEROUSLY a cloth, board or your hands and with your hands roll the dough into a ball. You just grasp the dough and tuck the edges underneath as you stretch the top, so a smooth surface is at the top, and the bottom looks like it’s been tucked into the middle.**
  4. Next, you can put the dough on a large piece of parchment, a pizza peel lined with a little cornmeal or flour, or a bread rising basket. Whatever you choose, just make sure it is well floured, with the exception of the parchment–that doesn’t need to be floured, as you will simply lower it into your steaming hot dutch oven. Your dough now needs to rise until its about double in size. I find 1-2 hours is about right. I can usually make it closer to 1 hour if I let it rise near my preheating oven.
  5. Preheat your oven to 450 for at least 45 minutes to an hour with your covered dutch oven in the oven so its scorching hot. Oh so carefully, take your dutch oven out, and remove the lid. Next is the trick. Either lower the parchment paper with the dough directly into the dutch oven or use your hands or pizza peel to get your dough into the dutch oven. Here is the thing, it is going to look wonky. You won’t get it centered, or it will hit part of the side and stick, etc. Just scooch it down as best you can with a wooden spoon or spatula. It will look great when done. Promise. If you are rising in a bread basket for an effect, you will want to flip it upside down out of the basket onto a parchment sheet, or your hands and carefully lower into your pan.
  6. Score your bread if you can. You can buy a fancy tool, you can use a sharp floured knife or you can use scissors. It will help your bread rise better. Then into the hot oven with the lid on. Lower the temperature to 425 and bake for about 30 minutes before removing the lid and returning it to bake for about another 15-30 minutes. You are looking for a beautiful golden loaf and when you tip it out of the dutch oven and thump the bottom, it should sound hollow. I cheat sometimes when I am not sure and use my instant digital thermometer (don’t have one? Get one. For everything. This is mine, well, mine is actually yellow, but the same brand.) You are looking for bread to be between 205-210 degrees F.
  7. Here is the hard part…WAIT. Trust me. This is the hardest part cause your house now smells crazy good. You need to give it at least 10 minutes. 20 is better. Then cut, spread butter thickly, and inhale. Figuratively and literally.

Recipe Notes

*You have a lot of leeway with the time. The more time the better, to a point. You can overproof this dough, but because it is so wet, it is fairly forgiving. I have known people who can’t end up cooking it the next day and throw it in the fridge and bake it the next night. Not ideal, but totally doable.

**An interesting video on how to roll dough into a tight and or loose ball if you are into those types of video. This dough is much wetter than hers in the video, but you can check out the basic moves